"By the way, what is wrong with you?"
After accepting King's offer and deciding to go to the Fairy Forest, Kaito spread his wings again and headed there, this time carrying Diane and King with him.
Although King can fly, he is nowhere near Kaito's speed, so Kaito simply wrapped both of them in magic as if it were a leash and began flying at his usual speed.
It was while flying that he remembered something that had seemed strange before.
"Me?" Diane asked, pointing at herself.
"Yes, you, earlier you were way too excited, and now it is the complete opposite"
"Well, you... are way too strong, right?" Diane said, surprised. "That spear went through my defense like paper, but you stopped it easily and sent it back even stronger, you are incredible. Why did you not tell me you were that strong?"
"Did I not tell you I went to your clan before looking for you?"
"Yes, but... wait, you mean?" Diane replied, confused before realizing.
"You did not think your clan of battle addicts told me your location just because I asked, right?" Kaito smiled.
"Incredible, for that bunch of proud warriors to talk, you must have defeated most of the clan" Diane said, increasingly surprised, however, her expression soon changed to sadness and disappointment as she sighed. "Ah, what a shame"
"What is a shame?"
"Hmm, that you have a girlfriend. I would like to date someone as strong as you"
"..."
Faced with Diane's strange and sudden confession, Kaito did not know what to say.
'System'
[Diane - Affection: 75% - I like him a lot]
'You have to be kidding' Kaito thought, unable to believe what he was seeing.
"Hahaha, Kaito, you should see yourself in a mirror, your face is incredible" King laughed upon seeing Kaito's confused expression.
"Haha, as someone from another world you would not know, but giants are a warrior clan, so marrying strong people is their dream, the stronger the better.
Not only that, I can tell that girl is simple, I bet that the moment you saved her she was thinking something like, 'Oh, my hero', hahaha, giants are naive in everything that is not fighting" King explained between laughs and a bit of deliberate teasing toward Diane.
"Y-you... how do you know that?!" Diane asked, having been read like an open book.
"It is written all over your face, your eyes were shining earlier" King said disdainfully before mocking her again. "Too bad, he already has a girlfriend"
"Actually..." Kaito interrupted before Diane could respond to King's teasing. "There are seven"
"...What?" King asked, not understanding.
"You said I have a girlfriend, but in reality there are seven... or something like that.
Makima is something like my lover. And Shiho and Kaguya are in a strange situation, Kaguya kissed me the other day and I will definitely get Shiho back. Anyway, in short, there are seven" Kaito explained casually.
"Seven... girlfriends? Is that possible?" King said in disbelief. "Do all humans practice polygamy? Or is it all races except fairies?"
"No! Giants are not that perverted either" Diane protested immediately. "Only humans, with their endless greed and lust, would do something like that"
"Although... is that not good for you?"
"Is it?"
"Use your giant brain once in a while, do you think he said that for no reason right after you said you wanted to date him?"
"Yes? I mean... no! Wait, fly, are you implying he wants to include me in his harem? Do you think Kaito has mental problems? No one goes around asking girls to join their harem"
"Who are you calling a fly? I am a fairy, and not just any, the Fairy King" King complained. "As for that, why are you asking me? Whether he has mental problems or not, you should ask him"
"Can you stop talking as if I am not here?" Kaito sighed, listening to the entire discussion while being ignored.
But his question was not well received.
"You shut up, pervert. I knew I should not trust someone who stared at my naked chest" Diane snapped. "I knew you had unresolved mental problems, but this is another level, that explains your strange personality changes"
"You know, where I come from, telling someone they have mental problems counts as an insult" Kaito said. "Besides, what do you mean by personality changes?"
At his question, both looked at him in disbelief, confusing Kaito.
"You did not notice?" King asked.
"Notice what?"
"I thought you were doing it on purpose. It is like there is a serious and cold Kaito while fighting and then a kind and cheerful Kaito. You switch between them from time to time"
"Really?"
"Really" both nodded.
'System'
[Really]
'What the hell? Since when do I have that? Can you fix it?'
[It is related to your dissociation, it is not that serious. Yes, I can fix it, but that means leaving you in serious mode]
'Fine, do it'
[Impenetrable Mind activated at 100%]
The moment the system spoke, Kaito felt as if all his scattered thoughts disappeared instantly, his mind was completely under control, without any spontaneous thoughts.
'So that was it' Kaito thought, a simple change that could affect everything.
Although he never kept Impeccable Mind at one hundred percent just to avoid eventually becoming the kind of person who does not care about anything and makes all decisions based only on logical benefits, apparently that small percentage he left open was enough to affect him somehow.
'Have I lived enough to reach this level?' Kaito wondered.
At the same time, this completely changed his previously approachable aura, slightly frightening King and Diane.
"Kaito?" Diane asked, worried.
"Do not worry, I just focused for a moment. We will go faster from now on" Kaito replied, no longer interested in talking or listening to their arguments.
The speed of the three increased several times, turning from a linear blur in the sky into something almost invisible even to the strongest on the ground. At that speed, less than two minutes later they reached the Fairy Forest.
As soon as they arrived, they realized the situation there was quite serious.
The entire forest was on fire while panic spread everywhere with fairies fleeing in all directions.
Right at the center, next to the largest tree in the place, there was a huge and fat demon, completely red and grotesque in appearance.
"What?... What is happening? Elaine!"
"Hey, wait!"
King saw this and, without saying anything else, flew toward it before Diane could stop him.
...
At the top of the World Tree, Elaine and Ban lay side by side, bleeding terribly from wounds covering their bodies.
Ban's body, to be precise, was much worse, with a hole occupying more than half of his body around the stomach area. Not only was his entire stomach and much of his intestines missing, but his upper organs were also damaged, in just a few seconds Ban would probably die.
The fact that he was still alive at that moment was due to his own mental resilience.
Elaine, beside him, was actually much better, her body was covered in wounds and bruises spread all over, proof that she had fought a lot. And although some of her injuries were fatal, if she fled she could survive and heal slowly.
But she chose not to do that, she simply lay beside Ban, took his hand and chose to die with him.
Having lost the only purpose of her life, protecting the Fountain of Youth, she felt her life was empty, that emptiness was filled thanks to Ban, who appeared that day wanting to steal the fountain and somehow ended up becoming the most important person to her.
But now, that person was about to die at the hands of a demon that appeared out of nowhere. Although she had fought the demon with everything she had, she had barely managed to injure it.
Knowing she could neither kill the demon nor protect her beloved or the Fairy Forest, she simply gave up, choosing to perish with them.
To her confusion, even though she had already closed her eyes, ready to die, the expected death never came.
Instead, a familiar voice reached her ears, one she had not heard in centuries.
"Chastiefol - True fifth form: Increase"
Giving it everything he had, King used Chastiefol again, transforming it into its true form and then multiplying it into thousands of copies.
All of them mercilessly flew toward the head of the enormous red demon, despite its immense resistance, the speed and nearly infinite number of sacred spears aimed at its head finally created a wound, then another, then another until the demon's head was completely destroyed, falling to the ground dead and making the entire forest tremble with its size.
Boom!
"I... uff uff... I did it" King, barely having had the control to release the true first form of Chastiefol before, could not believe he had managed to release the fourth form, with which his power had literally multiplied several times.
But he did not have time to worry about that now.
______________________________________
+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)